


Sick in Space

by the_sinnamon_roll_writes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Right?, a bit of a breather tbh, but it ends happy i promise, except hell i used that but that's not that bad, i did't even use any bad words!, not exactly fluffy but not really angsty either, the most angsty it gets is everyone worrying about a sick pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 13:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sinnamon_roll_writes/pseuds/the_sinnamon_roll_writes
Summary: Every planet has germs, right? And unfortunately, the paladins can't vaccinate against all of them. So they all need to step up and help take care of a sick Pidge! Lot's of cuddles and concern.This one does get referenced in another fic that's coming up in my BTHB series, but it's not a huge plot point.This was a request!





	Sick in Space

Pidge was certain that her allergies were acting up. They were on a new planet, with an atmosphere that allowed them to breathe without helmets. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t all kinds of allergens floating around. And boy, was she sneezing up a storm. She had to have wiped her nose off a dozen times in the last five minutes alone. The other Paladins kept shooting her concerned looks that she didn’t miss. It took a great deal of effort to resist rolling her eyes. They were a bunch of worrywarts. Aside from an itchy, runny nose, she was perfectly fine. And some congestion building up in her chest. And a little bit of wooziness. It was fine. Allergies. 

She was looking forward to the celebration that the locals had planned for them. It was supposed to be a grand event to last several days. Pidge had heard that there was to be one day for each Paladin, but she had no way of knowing if that were true. She’d also heard a rumor that it was to last eight days, in honor of each of the eight kingdoms. For that matter, she had no way of knowing how long a day even lasted on this planet. That was something that had taken some getting used to- not very many planets shared Earth’s twenty-four hour cycle. Normally they did heavy research into places they were visiting that included day/night cycles. But it was so small here that they were able to drive off the Galra with very little effort. And the quicker they addressed the people, the better. 

Upon landing, the Paladins learned that although it was small, the planet Spartaculor (which Lance had delightedly pointed out sounded like a mix of Sparta and spectacular) was divided into eight distinct kingdoms, each of which generally operated independently of the others. The great walls that divided each section were visible from space (“Just like the Great Wall of China!” Hunk had said excitedly), and split the kingdoms evenly, leaving the land looking like a pie chart. The radial symmetry between the kingdoms was impressive, and Pidge was dying to know how they had manage to divide the land up so evenly. At the center of all the kingdoms was a circular field, larger than any individual sections. As to it’s original use, they could only guess. Keith had said that it was probably a battleground of some sort, whereas Hunk suggested it was once a place of celebration. Now, the Galrans had set up their base there, hovering in their craft above it. A perfect spot to observe any going-ons or fights happening below them. It was an easy place to command from, but woefully pitiful in terms of defensive positioning. Until the Paladins had arrived though, there hadn’t been much need for it. 

War between kingdoms was not unheard of- in fact, it wasn’t uncommon at all. The lack of cooperation was, in Pidge’s mind, a contributing factor in how the Galrans were able to take over. It had certainly helped to keep them in power. By pitting kingdom against kingdom, the Galra were able to prevent any major uprisings against themselves. An easy way to control massive amounts of people, simply by keeping them from uniting under one goal. But they only had one cruiser that could’ve possibly given Voltron a hard time, and when they had the element of surprise on their hands it was quickly taken care of.

Spartaculor was free, and so the planet’s leaders had decided to throw them a celebration. As it was a special occasion, it was decided that the kingdoms would set aside their mutual dislike to organize a festival of some sort in the no-man’s-land at the center of the kingdoms. Shiro had tried to assure them that it wasn’t necessary, but they were insistent that they repay the Paladins in some way. He’d suggested that the best repayment would be a promise to join the Voltron Coalition, but that request fell on deaf ears. 

So a celebration it was. Despite their protests against it, the Paladins couldn’t help but get excited when they landed. The way that it was set up was reminiscent of a fair back home, with rides and games and stands selling all sorts of things. Delicious aromas drifted through the air and mingled with the sounds of laughter and thrilled screams coming from the rides. It was hard to believe that just days ago at least three of the kingdoms had been at war, given how well they were getting along now. How they had managed to set this all up in a day was beyond the Paladins. 

It wasn’t until Pidge walked straight into a pole that Shiro said something. “Pidge, are you feeling alright?”

“Uh-huh. Just aller-” She was going to say more, but she had to stop to cough harshly. She felt a warm hand on her back, and looked up to see Hunk, gently rubbing her shoulders. Then Shiro was pressing his hand against her forehead, and she instinctively flinched back. “Shiro, your hands are cold.”

“No they’re not. You’re running a fever,” Shiro said, looking around for the others and starting to say more things that Pidge couldn’t make out. That was irritating. Why was he mumbling?

A fever? That wasn’t right. She wasn’t sick. Once she got inside, it would clear up and she would be just fine. Before she could tell him that, Pidge realized that she was being ushered back towards the Castle. “Wha- Shiro?” 

To her surprise, Shiro was nowhere to be found. How had he gotten away so fast? Lance and Keith were walking on either side of her now and watching her closely. Weird. Pidge tried to stop to ask what the hell was going on, but when her legs stopped moving, the world started to spin, and she promptly tipped over onto Keith. He was warm, and she immediately leaned into his side. Under any other circumstances, she would’ve laughed at the panic that flashed across his face before he wrapped an arm around her. Of course, under any other circumstances, she wouldn’t have fallen on him in the first place. 

“- told you that would happen!” Lance sounded rather smug, and she could only assume that meant that he had proved Keith wrong. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Focus. Pidge, are you okay?”

When she nodded, he helped her to straighten up and continue walking. It seemed she had forgotten where they were going, so he kept his arm around her shoulder just in case. She didn’t seem to mind too awfully much. In fact, she leaned her head on his bicep with a content smile. Before she knew it, they were in the infirmary, and she was being picked up and set down on a table. It felt nice to sit down. She yawned heavily, suddenly incredibly aware of how tired she was. Her eyes opened again, and she saw that Shiro had arrived at some point, and was standing off to the left of her. In fact, everyone was there. Shiro, Lance, Keith, Hunk, Allura, and Coran were all standing in a semi-circle in front of her. Her space family. It was so nice that they were all together. 

She smiled again when Allura walked over to stand by her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. 

“I’m going to run some scans to see if we can figure out what this nasty little bug she’s caught is.” Coran was pulling out what looked like a speed radar and pointing it at Pidge’s forehead. She looked alarmed when she noticed, and tried to jerk away, but Allura held her tight to keep her in place. 

“It’s okay Pidge, it’s not going to hurt you,” she promised. Pidge relaxed a little, and Allura let her lean against her side. “Well?”

Coran frowned down at the device he was holding. “It’s not something that the sensor recognizes. Which means it’s not a normal Altean or human illness.”

“How do you know it’s not a human illness?”

“When I learned that you were all humans, I downloaded several databases of known human viruses and bacteria, just to be safe.”

“Then how are we supposed to treat it?” Keith asked, looking back and forth between Coran and Pidge. It looked like she was close to falling asleep at Allura’s side. “Can we just stick her in a pod?”

“No, I’m afraid the pods only work on injuries. How would you normally treat this?”

Everyone looked at Shiro now. As a ranking officer at the Garrison, he had the most human medical experience of all of them. He was looking at Pidge, still slumped over. “If we don’t know what it is, then all we can really do is make her as comfortable as possible and hope her body can ride it out. We’ll need to keep her hydrated. Lots of rest. I mean, her body is reacting like it’s just a nasty flu bug or something, it’s possible it can handle it on its own. In the meantime though, maybe we should do some research on the planet and see what kinds of illnesses they have down there.”

 

“I’ll get on that,” Allura offered. She didn’t know much in the way of medicine, and she knew even less about human anatomy. However, she was more than capable of gathering information. She carefully stepped away from Pidge as Shiro came forward to support her. If that bothered Pidge, she didn’t say anything. It was hard to say if she even noticed the swap. Coran said something about joining Allura and hurried behind her to help. 

It was frightening, how fast this sickness had come over her. This morning she had been fine. But just a few hours later and now she could hardly even sit up. He wouldn’t say it to the others, but this had Shiro incredibly worried. The only plus that he could see was that she appeared to be too far gone to be uncomfortable. “Pidge? How ya doing?”

“Me? ‘M swell. Feel a bit funny, I think. How are _you?”_

“Pidge, honey, you’re sick,” Shiro said, struggling not to laugh. This was serious. She was growing delirious, and there was no telling how long she would be able to communicate at all for. “Come on, let’s get you changed and- Allura?”

Allura had already run off. Great. That meant that one of the boys would have to help her get changed. For a moment, Shiro thought about leaving it up to her, but one look at her told him that she probably wouldn’t know what to do with a shirt if it was put in her hands. It was up to them. Shiro looked over at the other boys in the room, and his eyes landed on Lance. Lance, who came from a large family. It was very possible that he had experience in helping take care of younger relatives in this capacity. 

“Lance, can I get your help?”

It appeared that Lance hadn’t totally picked up on what Shiro was going to ask for as he hurried forward nodding. “What’s up?”

“I’m gonna need help getting her out of her armor and into some looser comfortable clothes.”

“Oka- oh.” The minute it dawned on Lance that Shiro was asking him to help undress then redress her was clear. But Shiro was relieved to see that the hesitation passed quickly enough. Pidge needed him- and Lance had helped get his younger nieces and nephews changed before on multiple occasions. There was no reason that this would be weird. “Alright. Let’s go.”

“Yeah- let’s go!” Pidge chimed in enthusiastically. This time Shiro did chuckle as he helped her stand up. She swayed where she stood, and blinked several times like she had already forgotten what they were doing. Shiro kept a hand on her shoulder to be safe. Pidge allowed herself to be led out of the infirmary and through the Castle to her bedroom. 

Both Shiro and Lance groaned in unison when they realized that they would have to pick through the mess to find something suitable for her to wear. “You know Shiro, my room is just down the hall. And I know where all of my clothes are. And they’re all super baggy on her.”

“Are you offering to let her sleep in your pajamas? Wait, how are you so sure your clothes are baggy on her?”

Lance nodded, ignoring the second question. So they closed Pidge’s door and walked to Lance’s room. 

“Alright Pidge, go ahead and sit down here for a minute,” Lance said guiding her over to the bed. He sighed and grabbed her upper arms when she started to try and lay down. “Sorry Pidgy, I need you up for this part.”

He was remarkably good at this, Shiro noted. He was glad that he had asked Lance. Since Lance was the one who knew where everything was, Shiro sat down beside Pidge to keep her propped up. Lance nodded in appreciation, and set about digging through his drawers to pull out some clothes for her. “Okay Shiro, could you start getting her chest plate and arm guards off? I’m going to get going on her legs.”

Shiro complied, and started unlatching her armor and discarding it on the floor. Once they had her down to her underclothes, Shiro looked to Lance again. He felt bad, pushing this off on him, but Shiro had no experience whatsoever with this part of taking care of people. Lance didn’t complain though, and just started pulling her shirt off over her head. He hesitated when he saw her bra, then pushed Shiro off to the side so he could climb around to her back and take it off from behind her before pulling the looser shirt down. It wasn’t much, but it was a small step towards protecting her modesty. The whole process was made much harder since she wouldn’t stop trying to lean back on him. He got that she was tired, but he really just wanted to get this out of the way. 

Once again, he paused at changing her pants, but then told himself that he’d seen her in a swimsuit before- this wasn’t any different. At least, it shouldn’t be. It was. But not much. No point in dragging it out. Lance hurried to change her into his shorts (which were more like capris on her). 

All through this, Shiro was helping to keep her upright, and lifted her up when it came time to pull up the shorts to her waist, keeping his eyes averted whenever he wasn’t moving her. 

Pidge didn’t look like she was aware of what was going on at all. She’d hum occasionally when Lance asked her to lift her arms or wiggle her legs, but other than that, she remained quiet. 

“Why don’t we take her to the lounge,” suggested Shiro when Pidge was all changed. “That might make it easier to keep an eye on her.”

“Sure. Come on Pidge, up we go.” Lance was standing in front of her, and had his arms down like he was about to pick her up. 

He stepped back almost immediately though, looking almost guilty. Pidge wasn’t his niece (no matter how close in size they were). Instead, he reached out to take her hand and pull her up. Shiro knelt down with his back to her and without any prompting, Pidge leaned forward to drape her arms around his shoulders with strength that surprised him. Almost on instinct, Pidge’s legs cinched around Shiro’s waist like a seatbelt when he stood up. His arms hooked down under her legs to provide her with a little extra support, and then he was hauling her off. Lance hung back to take a moment to change out of his own armor. 

Apparently Hunk had gotten the same idea as Shiro. When they walked into the lounge, they found that he had been setting up a nest for Pidge to sleep in near the center of the room. 

“Hey. How’s she doing?”

“Well, we got her dressed- or at least, Lance did,” Shiro answered with a weary smile. “What’s this?”

“I thought it might be easier to keep an eye on her here instead of in her room. Keith is going around and getting some more blankets and pillows for her. I told him to get her tablet too. I wasn’t sure if she’d be up for messing around on it but I figured it wouldn’t hurt.”

Shiro nodded, and stepped off to the side to walk Pidge over to the space that Hunk had made for her. She went without complaint sinking down to her side where Shiro sat her down. One of her arms popped up, and she started waving her hand around just as Lance walked in. He and Hunk both snorted when she whacked Shiro in the head, earning a flash of a scowl. “Yes, Pidge?”

“Will you stay with me?”

“Of course.” Shiro seemed to be caught off guard by that, and was almost immediately kicking himself mentally for it. He wouldn’t be able to stay with her. At the very least, he’d need to get some medicine and simple food for her to eat. Hunk was great at making spectacular meals, but she needed something easy to digest. He was such a softie when it came to Pidge though. It was almost impossible for him to say no to her. “I mean, we aren’t going to leave you alone.”

Once again, Shiro found himself thanking his lucky stars that Lance was there. Apparently an expert on taking care of sick people, Lance laid down beside her and pulled her close to him. “Nope. We’re right here with you.“

It worked, and she relaxed into him immediately. Her arms wrapped around his middle tightly, and her head came to rest on his chest without any hesitation. She had a content smile on her face, looking more relaxed than he could ever remember seeing her. Lance could feel her burning skin against his chest through his shirt, and he frowned up at Shiro. “She’s _really_ hot.”

Before Shiro could say anything, Allura stormed in, looking frustrated. Shiro, Lance, and Hunk all looked back and forth between each other until Shiro managed to work up the courage to ask her what had happened. 

“Well? Did you find anything?”

“Unfortunately no,” Allura answered. “The good news is that I was able to get in contact with the eight leaders on Spartaculor, and set up meetings with all of them. The bad news is that most of them weren’t too pleased that we left in the middle of the celebration, and wouldn’t agree to meet any sooner than eight quintants.”

Everyone groaned at the same time. Eight quintants? There was so much that could go wrong in that time. Too much. 

“Did you tell them that it’s an emergency?” Keith asked, walking into the room. 

Allura nodded. “Of course. It didn’t seem to matter to them. As I said, they were offended that we left. One of them did agree to meet tomorrow though. Perhaps she will have some information that will be of some use, if whatever’s causing this came from her kingdom.”

“How likely do you think that is?” 

“One in eight.” Allura shrugged helplessly. “But she and her people were there, so it is a possibility that we need to follow up on.”

“So why wouldn’t they just talk to you about it today?”

“I assume because they want to make us wait,” she said with a hint of bitterness. “In all honesty, I’m surprised I was able to reach them at all. As I said, they are a difficult species to interact with.”

“Basically what you’re saying is that we just need to handle this by ourselves?”

“Basically, yes. At least for the time being.”

“Um, Shiro? Speaking of handling things- Pidge really needs something for her fever.”

“Right. I’ll go get her some water and a few cool washcloths.” Shiro brushed some hair off of Pidge’s sweaty forehead before turning to leave. Maybe he would take a quick peek in Coran’s medicine cabinet and see if there was anything that might help combat a fever. It would be a crapshoot, given that Coran was nowhere to be found, but it was worth a look. Allura walked off after him to who-knows-where, leaving Hunk, Lance, and Keith to look after their youngest teammate. 

“Lance- hey- hey Lance- you should play that game with me.” Pidge was patting at his chest and shoulders, occasionally slapping his face in an attempt to get his attention. They really needed to keep their faces out of arm’s reach of her. She didn’t seem to have much of a concept of personal space anymore. 

“What game?”

“Video game,” she said simply, like it was too hard to think of the name.

“I think you should try and get some rest, first.” Hunk sat down on Pidge’s other side and gently rubbed her back. 

Pidge craned her neck back to look up at Hunk with an endearingly sleepy smile, and he switched from rubbing her back to stroking her hair. Judging by the way her eyes closed and her soft hum, she enjoyed it. She turned forward again to bury her face back into Lance, waving her arm lazily behind her to tell Hunk to continue. 

“This is weird,” Lance said quietly, looking down at Pidge holding onto him. “Have you ever seen her so... this?”

“Never,” Hunk answered, matching Lance’s volume. “I think she’s hugged more in the last ten minutes than every other time I’ve seen her hug combined. Who’da thought?”

They were all looking down at her. It was hard to match this Pidge with the ‘my space is my space and don’t you forget it’ Pidge that they were all so used to. Was it some sort of weird symptom of whatever was making her ill? Or was this just how she acted when she was sick? That would be a question for her when she was more aware of her surroundings. 

“Is she asleep?” Allura startled everyone. She had snuck in the room quietly, with the intent of not bothering a sleeping Pidge. Waking her was always a risk- she never woke up easy, but always woke up hostile. 

“I don’t think so.” Keith had glanced up at Allura when she came in, but quickly turned back to frown down at Pidge. “It looks like she’s almost there though.”

“Hey- I think ‘m sick,” Pidge mumbled suddenly managing to surprise everyone else in the room. She’d been quiet for some time, and they’d all been running on the assumption that she was trying to sleep. She had lifted her head slightly and was trying to look around. “Don’t feel so good.”

“Really? We didn’t notice,” Lance said, patting her shoulder with a small grin. 

He regretted not following up a minute later when she threw up all over him. 

Keith and Hunk both started laughing, although Hunk managed to reel it in quickly and pulled Pidge away from Lance towards himself. Allura rushed over to help Lance stand up where he started gagging as well. Pidge’s arms wrapped around her stomach, and her eyes widened when she looked up at Lance. 

“Oh god- Lance I’m so sorry-“ she cut off to puke again. Pidge had somehow managed to get herself on her knees and was doubled over, expelling an impossible amount of vomit from her mouth. She could feel hands behind her, holding back her hair and rubbing her shoulders. She was panting when she finished, sitting up and trying to catch her breath. Tears slid down her cheeks while Lance and Allura walked off to get another cleaner shirt. Then she looked down at the mess around her- it looked like she had managed to completely ruin Hunk’s nest. Pidge groaned, and doubled over once again when a spasm of pain racked her stomach. Because that was just what she needed right now. This was so embarrassing. She felt herself being picked up again, and she looked up to see Keith holding her and talking to Hunk. 

“You should go and get some more pillows and blankets. Let’s try and recreate that without all the throw up. It seemed like she was enjoying it, and we want to keep her comfortable.”

Her head lolled over to find Hunk just in time to see him nod and start to walk off, leaving her there with Keith and a large mess of bile at his feet. Gross. She was starting to feel distant again- it was only the bitter scent in the room that was anchoring her down. 

“I’m sorry... Keith, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to throw up...”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. You don’t need to apologize. None of us are mad. Pidge, do you think your stomach will be alright for now? Can I set you down over here so I can... clean up a bit?” She nodded, so he took her slowly to the opposite side of the room. “Alright, I’m going to be right over there, alright? If you need me, just say the word.”

She nodded again, but stiffened and raised an arm toward him when he set her down. That gave him the feeling that she actually hadn’t quite understood what he had told her. But he couldn’t let himself be swayed so quickly- the smell was starting to make _him_ feel sick. It needed to go. 

He had just managed to get everything wrapped up in a relatively clean blanket when Shiro walked in with an armload of things for Pidge . He wrinkled his nose as the smell hit him, and he gestured at Keith as if to say _‘what the hell?’_

“Pidge threw up all over Lance.”

“She’s throwing up now? Great.” Shiro’s eyes found Pidge across the room, and he walked over to her quickly. She looked even worse than she had before. She was deathly pale everywhere except around her eyes, which were a puffy red. There was still vomit on the front of Lance’s shirt. They would need to get that changed. At least Allura was here now to help. She leaned over on him when he sat down, and he could feel heat radiating from her. This really wasn’t good. He was torn between staying and being there for her or leaving to get a clean new shirt. 

“Shiro... don’ feel good,” Pidge said. “I think I puked on Lance. I didn’t mean to-“

“I know. It’s okay though. He’ll be fine. Right now though, we need to focus on getting you better.” He looked down at the supplies he had brought with him and carefully leaned over to dump it all on the floor. When it was all out in front of him, Shiro snagged a water bottle and a wet washcloth. Shiro gently reached around with the arm she wasn’t leaning on and patted at her cheeks and forehead with the cool washcloth. She seemed to enjoy it. It warmed up quickly between his hand and her face though, and Shiro had to shake it out a couple of times to try and keep it working. As he did so, he offered the water bottle over to her. “Here, take a few sips and rinse out your mouth. It can’t be tasting too good.”

Pidge’s eyes landed on the bottle and she shook her head rapidly. “I’m not drinking that. I don’t wanna throw up again.”

“You need to drink something though. A little bit of water and some crackers might help your stomach settle down a bit. Besides, it hurts less to throw up when all you’re throwing up is water.”

She only shook her head again, and Shiro groaned. He should’ve known she would be just as difficult when she was sick as she was when she wasn’t. As far as he could tell, there was no realistic way to force her into drinking though. At least, not without the risk of accidentally drowning her. He didn’t have the energy to try and deal with that right now. All he could do was roll his eyes in exasperation. If worse came to worst, he could just pin her down and stick an I.V. in her arm. He really hoped it wouldn’t come to that- he wasn’t even sure if he remembered how. “Fine. Nothing for now. You know you’re going to have to eventually though, right?”

Pidge shrugged, and he had a feeling that he was starting to lose her. “Pidge? Hey Pidge. Can you stay awake a little longer so we can get a bed set up for you?”

“Yeah... bed sounds nice,” she said absently. Apparently she was only getting snippets of what was being said around her. “I’m tired.”

“You’ve had a long day, haven’t you?” She nodded, looking thoroughly miserable. Her eyes were watery and her lips were pursed, making her look like a young child on the verge of a breakdown. The bruise that was forming on her forehead from where she’d hit her head on that pole wasn’t helping. “It’s okay- look, it’s Hunk and Lance. Looks like they’ve got some pillows and blankets. Hunk, is that your mattress?”

“Yup! It’s more comfy than just laying around on pillows, and it’s big enough for all of us to hunker down on.” Hunk looked pleased with himself. “Lance, you’ve got her computer, right?”

“Right here,” Lance answered, dumping everything but Pidge’s laptop case and a clean shirt to the floor. “Alright. Let’s try this again.”

•••

The very first thing they learned was that when she was sick, Pidge transformed into a new, _incredibly_ cuddly person. Even Hunk was having a hard time keeping up. 

The next thing they learned was that she was an extremely difficult patient. She was refusing to make anything easy for the others to take care of her. She didn’t want to eat, and would hardly drink. To a point, that was understandable- she had been throwing up after all. Between all of them, they could only manage to get her to drink a half of a glass of water, and take a few measly sips of some soup before she started shaking her head and pushing away the utensils. Which wouldn’t have worried them all too much had it not been the third day in a row that she had done it. Everyone knew that with the way she’d been sweating, she was in serious danger of dehydration. 

“Pidge, you really need to drink a little bit more,” Hunk implored as afternoon slipped into evening. It was one of her more lucid moments- she was actually able to focus on him and seemed to understand what he was saying. He had propped her up in a sitting position and she was scowling stubbornly down at the glass he was offering like she was torn between actually taking a drink and knocking it out of his hand. He could understand where the reluctance was coming from. She hadn’t been able to keep anything down. But if she didn’t try, then she was only going to get worse. “It’ll help you feel better. Come on, you know the effects of dehydration just as well as I do, and you’re creeping up on half a week with no fluids. Please, just try? For me?”

That did the trick. Pidge sighed and reached to take the water from him. She hesitated again before bringing the cup up to her lips and taking a long, deep drink. For someone who kept claiming she wasn’t thirsty, she sure did chug it down fast. When she finished off the water, she held the glass out for someone to take. Keith took it, and set it aside, studying her carefully. “Well?”

“I admit, it tasted okay. It helped my throat a bit. I’m not eating though,” Pidge said as firmly as someone with a hoarse throat could manage. “Wish we had some cough drops. My throat really hurts.”

“I can see if Coran has anything like that. I’m gonna go get you some more of that Altean soda stuff, okay?” Lance offered, standing up and glancing between her, Hunk, and Keith. Although she didn’t look entirely pleased, she nodded all the same. He had a feeling that she was only really agreeing to appease them. Whatever her reason though, no one really cared. As long as she was going along with it. Keith held up the empty cup, so Lance took it and left the room to fill it up for her. 

Lance had made it two halls down when he bumped into Shiro. “Oh, hey Lance. How’s Pidge doing?”

“About the same. Still looks pretty rough, but she’s still alive. I’m getting her another drink. She finally polished off the one we got her after Hunk did this whole puppy eye thing on her. Worked like a charm. Is Coran back from the mall yet? Have we got any medicine? She was wanting some cough drops for her throat.” 

“Coran is still gone. It’ll be at least another few hours before he gets back. Probably longer. You remember how the malls can be. And what Corans like.”

“Maybe one of us should’ve gone with him. He’s not exactly an expert on human health stuff.”

Shiro shrugged. “Not much we can do now. Coran is smart, I’m sure he’ll figure something out. He’s been around us long enough that I bet he’s picked up a thing about what works and doesn’t work for humans.”

“I hope you’re right. I’m ready to see Pidge feeling better. It’s been ...” Lance faltered, suddenly looking unsure of what he wanted to say. 

But Shiro understood what he was getting at. They were all used to injuries that would be able to heal quickly with some time in a pod. But sickness? This was unchartered territory. None of them had ever been sick in space before. Hunk had thrown up a couple of times, but that was motion sickness, not an actual stomach bug. It was clear as day that Lance and Hunk were the only ones to have actual experience with sick people around. Shiro had taken health classes back on Earth, but he hadn’t put the skills he’d learned to use very often, and even less so since they’d left their planet. They both grew up in larger families, with a ‘someone is sick so everyone needs to help take care of them’ kind of attitude. 

“I know Lance. She’ll get better soon. We just need to keep her comfortable, that’s about all we can do right now.”

“It’s just scary how she got this bad so fast,” Lance said. He didn’t particularly want to admit that he was scared, but this was Shiro. If he couldn’t talk to Shiro about it, then he couldn’t bring it up with anyone. “I wish I could do something about it.”

Lance stopped when he noticed that Shiro was staring at him incredulously. “Do something? Lance, are you kidding me? You’ve probably helped her through all of this more than anyone. I don’t know what we’d be doing without you. Could you imagine Keith trying to do what you’ve been doing?”

Keith had actually been doing a lot in the way of helping, but Shiro was going for a smile, and was glad to see that he got one. “I guess.”

“Besides,” Shiro continued, “you’re the only one who really knows what he’s doing. The rest of us are just following your example.”

Shiro wished he had a camera to capture the look on Lance’s face. Surprised, but pleased, with a hint of cockiness that Shiro hadn’t seen much the past few days. “Thanks, Shiro.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m gonna go check in with the others now. I didn’t mean to distract you. You go get her some more to drink.”

Lance nodded, and Shiro took that as his cue to continue on to the lounge. 

“Shiro! Aren’t they cute?” Hunk stood up as quietly as he could when Shiro walked in. It looked like Keith had actually dozed off as well, and he didn’t want to disturb either of them. If Pidge was mean when she was woken up, then Keith was a downright monster. The only difference was Keith usually woke up in his own just fine, unlike Pidge. “We managed to get her to drink a glass of water. She still isn’t wanting to eat, but she was looking a bit better- a bit more color to her cheeks, and her eyes are clearer.”

Shiro nodded. He could accept her not eating for now, as long as she drank some more. “I heard.”

“Have we been able to reach Matt?” Hunk asked softly. Pidge had been asking after him, but as far as Hunk knew, their efforts to reach him had been in vain. 

“Kind of. We can’t reach him right now, but the rebels are gonna send him this way as soon as he gets back from whatever they’ve got him doing. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of days,” Shiro answered, looking down at where she was curled up at Keith’s side. She had his shirt balled up in her fists- even if he woke up, he wasn’t going anywhere. Keith had actually been impressing everyone by being so willing to stay by her side. 

The gentleness he was showing was something that Shiro could remember seeing once or twice before. Back on Earth, Shiro could remember one particular incident wherein a younger classmate had gotten her wrist broken by another particularly cruel student (who was later expelled from the Garrison). After giving the bully a few injuries of his own, Keith had turned his attention to the younger child. He had surprised Shiro that day by offering his hand for the girl to squeeze tightly. He’d spoken softly to her, reassurances that help was coming and that it would be okay. And he’d stayed with her until that help arrived. 

It was a side of Keith that Shiro had rarely seen, and he was proud that he was willing to show it in front of the others. He didn’t usually like to let it out. That just made Shiro all the more proud of him though. And it spoke to his fondness of Pidge as well. Him letting her snuggle to him that closely was proof that Keith really did care. 

Shiro _really_ wished he had a camera. 

•••

It took far too long for the rebels to reach out to them again. Almost four days. Four ridiculously long days. 

Pidge was showing no signs of getting any better, with only brief moments of awareness. For the most part, she was simply a giggly sort of delirious, like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep and had no clue what was happening around her. It was actually pretty cute. On occasion though, that delirium sent her to dark places. She would fly into a state of panic so suddenly and violently that she was left totally unaware of where she was at or who was around her. Fists would fly, and they all got their fair share of punches. 

From what they were able to gather, sometimes she would be back at the Garrison, trying to fight off officers and get back to looking for clues as to what happened on Kerberos. Other times, she would be in a Galran prison again, struggling to escape her guards and return to her team. Unfortunately in any situation they were the bad guys. 

So it was a great relief to everyone when they received a message saying that Matt was on his way, even if they were all just on the brink of falling asleep. Surely her older brother would know a thing or two about how to deal with her when she was like this. Because as much as they loved her, she was running them ragged without even trying. 

When Allura opened a wormhole for him, Matt landed quickly and came sprinting out of his ship. “Where is she? What happened?”

“It’s okay- Pidge is okay,” Shiro promised. “Well, she’s alive. She’s been really sick, and we can’t figure out what’s causing it. Coran said it’s not any human or Altean illness. And she’s been asking about you. Didn’t they tell you anything?”

“All I got before I left was that something was wrong with Pidge,” Matt said, following Shiro through the Castle. “Have you tried your healing things? What sort of symptoms has she been showing?”

“Won’t work. The pods only work on injuries. She’s been running a serious fever and throwing up. Sore throat, aching muscles, fatigue to the point that she’s been delirious. It’s... not been pretty. She’s been weirdly snuggly too.”

The last part made Matt smile. “Yeah, that’s Katie. Last time I remember her getting sick, I had to call in sick to school too because she wouldn’t let go of me.”

They walked in the lounge where Pidge was still resting to find that the rest of the crew was there as well. Pidge was nestled in the crook of Hunk’s arm and fast asleep, and the others were either sitting or laying around them. Keith and Lance both scooted apart when they saw that Matt had just walked in. He was by Pidge’s side in a second, reaching down and gently patting her shoulder. 

“Hey, koala bear,” Matt said with a small smile down at her when she opened her eyes and met his. 

Pidge smiled back and sighed contentedly when she heard the familiar voice and the old nickname he’d used for her whenever she got sick. Koala bear, because she would start to cling to anyone she could get her hands on. Everyone knew she wasn’t usually very affectionate, but when she wasn’t feeling well, she just wanted to be held constantly. She felt that that wasn’t incredibly unreasonable. It was a scientific fact that touching other people could help someone to feel better. “Hi Matt. I’m not feelin’ so hot.”

“I heard. Shiro filled me in. I’m sorry you’re feeling gross, Katie. You’ll be better soon.” Matt looked around at the setup that they had put together. Hunk, Keith, and Lance were all hunkered down next to her. Pillows and blankets surrounded them, and they had a laptop propped up down at their feet. Probably for watching movies or something. He knew for a fact that Pidge had at least ten movies on her computer at any given time, and there was a high likelihood that she had more that he didn’t know about. Pidge had rolled away from Hunk to face her brother, and shot him a look that he knew meant it was his turn. Matt scooched down so she was able to rest her head on his chest and cuddle into his side. Soon enough she had fallen back asleep, leaving a heavy silence in the room. 

Matt couldn’t help but wonder if this was what the past few days had been. Bouts of activity, directed by Pidge’s awareness, all between large periods of awkward quiet? No wonder they had wanted him there so badly. 

“So Matt,” Shiro finally said, sitting down cross-legged beside him, “is this normal?”

“Well, it’s always been like this. She doesn’t get sick very often, but when she does, it hits her hard and sticks around. Although I admit, I’ve never seen her this bad before.” Matt was doing his best to not look concerned, but Shiro could see right through him. He was worried. That was to be expected- Pidge was his little sister. She was in bad shape. It was more than understandable to think that he would be upset. Shiro wasn’t happy about it either. Seeing Pidge so totally out of it was weird. Even when she’d pulled all-nighters for a week in a row, she hadn’t been out of commission this long. 

“Did she ever have nightmares when she was sick?” Keith asked. 

Matt frowned, looking up from Pidge to Keith. “Not that I can remember. Why?”

“Because she’s been having some real doozies lately. She managed to hit me in the neck the other day.” Hunk pulled down the collar of his shirt with his free hand to show Matt the bruise that he was sporting. “It’s hard to say if their actually ‘nightmares’ though. I’d say they’re more like hallucinations. Her eyes will be open, but she won’t recognize us.”

“Oof. I can’t think of anything like that ever happening. Do you have any clue who she’s fighting in those episodes?”

“Kinda. I’m not one hundred percent sure about this, but from what I’ve gathered, she thinks she’s either hitting at Garrison officers or the Galra. She doesn’t seem to get that we aren’t guards.”

“Yeah, it never got that bad at home,” Matt said. “She never had nightmares at all actually.”

That was something that must have changed in space. Nightmares weren’t uncommon among the Castle’s residents anymore. The fighting was hard on them, and not just physically. They had all woken up in a cold sweat with tears running down their faces on more than one occasion. And it wasn’t unusual to hear one of the others crying out- sometimes warnings, sometimes for help, sometimes for their family. Some of them- Shiro, Pidge, and Keith (and Allura on rare occasions)- had taken to avoiding sleep for as long as they could. They preferred to keep busy, and would work themselves to the point of collapse. Of course, whenever Shiro found the others doing that, he would try and scold them until they pointed out that he was doing the same thing. That usually shut him down pretty quick. There was never anything he could say without looking like a total hypocrite. 

Most of the time they were able to keep one step ahead of the haunting thoughts by staying with the others and filling up downtime with things to distract the mind. But there was no way of escaping them once they caught up. Space had taught these humans that coping mechanisms sometimes needed to be taken to the extreme to quell the demons. Even if it was bad for their bodies, team Voltron had reached the point where they’d do almost anything, just to cope with everything that had happened to them- and because of them. 

“I’m going to go check on Allura. I want to know if we’ve heard anything from Coran, or if any of the planet’s leaders have changed their minds about making us wait,” Shiro said, standing up to leave. “Are you guys gonna go to sleep soon?”

Lance, Hunk, and Keith all nodded, each looking tired beyond belief, and Shiro shot them a thumbs-up before leaving. 

“So you've all been sleeping here?” Matt asked, somewhat confused. No way was that comfortable. “Why?”

“Pidge doesn’t want to be left alone,” Hunk said. “And it felt weird, only having one person staying with her, so then two of us stayed with her. Then the people who were sleeping in their own beds felt weird cause like, half of us weren’t sleeping in our own beds. So long story short, we just decided that we’d all sleep here for now.”

“Huh. Okay. I guess that... makes some sense. Room for one more?”

“Sure,” Lance answered with a yawn. “Just so you know though, we’re about five minutes from falling asleep.”

Matt looked back down at his sister in his arms. “I could sleep. Been a busy day.”

“Keith, it’s your turn to get the lights.”

“No it’s not! Lance, it’s your turn, I did it last time.”

“Hunk, you love me, right? Would you get the lights for me?”

Matt couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the interaction, especially when Hunk groaned and got up to turn out the lights. It was like watching kids at a sleepover. Which, in a way, it was. A sleepover with absolutely none of the usual sleepover activities. 

Once the light went off, Lance and Keith were out of it. Despite the overhead lights being off, there were enough electronics that Matt could still see somewhat. 

Although he liked the idea, Matt was unable to fall asleep. Too wired, maybe. Or maybe he was just too concerned. Matt was thrown back around ten years to a time when she had been sick, and he’d held her just like this. Their father had needed to go to work, and their mother had needed to go to the store for some medicine and sick food, so Matt had been left to temporarily look after her. That had been when they were home, and safe on Earth. They had known that both their parents would be ready to stop everything and run to them if something that they couldn’t handle happened. 

Now they were in space. Fighting a war. About as unsafe as someone could be. Suddenly a terrible wave of homesickness washed over him, and he needed to take a deep breath to keep from crying. It had been a long time since he’d felt this way. He’d thought that he had come to terms with the fact that he was living in space now- that he might never return home and see his mother again. But apparently not. Seeing Pidge sick from something they had no way of treating and realizing just how fragile she was scared him. It made him wish that their mom would hurry to them and make her all better. That wasn’t going to happen this time. Matt was having a hard time catching his breath. He would lose her out here. He would lose his best friend, one of his few remaining family members. He would lose-

_‘Stop being dramatic. She’s only sick. It won’t kill her. It’s not fun, but it won’t kill her.’_

After all, Katie was strong. She wasn’t going to be taken out by a stomach bug, or whatever this thing was. Still, he couldn’t help but think about how she could die out here far too easily. The minute she became a Paladin of Voltron, Pidge became a big green target for one of the largest empires in the history of the universe. Every Galran out there was eager to either capture, torture, and/or straight up murder her. And countless other alien species would gladly turn her in for the chance to get in the Galra’s good graces. The worst part was, she didn’t even have to leave the Castle to get in trouble. If half of what he’d heard was true, then they were attacked in the Castle all the time. 

He was more proud of her than he could ever express. But he had to admit, every win Voltron had served to make the Galra angrier, and whenever Matt thought of it like that, anxiety would hit him like a ton of bricks. 

“Hey. Whatcha thinkin’?” Hunk asked quietly, jolting Matt from his thoughts. 

“What?”

“You look upset. Pidge gets that same look when she’s upset. I was just wondering if you... wanted to talk about it?”

Hunk. Matt didn’t know too awfully much about him. He only knew what Pidge had told him. She had mentioned once to him the Hunk never missed a thing. She’d also mentioned more than once that he was one of the kindest people she had ever met. Looking now at his concerned expression, Matt had a feeling that both statements were true. And if she was right about that, then she was probably right when she told him that Hunk was one of the easiest ones to talk to. He would’ve liked to talk to Shiro, but Matt wasn’t sure where he had gotten off to. Maybe it would help to say what he was thinking. 

“I’m just worried about her,” Matt said, looking down at his sister. “I don’t like seeing her like this.”

“Yeah, me neither. She’s usually so... vibrant. I’m not used to this.”

“It’s been a while. And it’s never been this bad,” Matt admitted again. “I wish...”

“You wish...?” Hunk promoted after Matt trailed off. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was not getting all the details. 

“I wish I could just know she’s safe.”

“She’ll get better.”

“No, I know that. I mean in general. I wish she was safe on Earth with our mom. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so amazed at all she’s done out here, and I would never tell her to go back. But she’s risking her life every day. And I can’t be here to know that she’s okay. Now seeing her like this... I don’t like not being able to protect her.”

Hunk paused before saying anything. “Well, the thing about Pidge is that she’s smart enough to not get herself in situations where she needs protecting. She’s not the type to fall into a trap or start a fight she can’t win. Actually, she’s kept us from getting hurt quite a few times.”

Matt sighed heavily, leaning his head back to stare up at the ceiling. “I know.”

“And she has us. Me, Shiro, Lance, Keith, Allura- even Coran would take a hit for her. We can be pretty tough when we have to. I mean, you’ve seen Shiro fight. The rest of us aren’t half bad either. She’s our little sister too at this point, and we would do anything to keep her from getting hurt.”

That seemed to brighten Matt up a little. The promise that Pidge was being looked after made him feel better. She was right. Hunk was a good one to talk to. “Thanks.”

“You remember when that base was attacked and all those rebels died?” Hunk asked suddenly. “Pidge was in bad shape after that. Like, she was a total wreck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her as scared as she was when she heard how many people we lost. And we’ve been through some scary stuff. Shiro actually had to hold her back to keep from leaving then and there to go look for you. I mean physically hold her back. Like, straight up pick her up and hold her back. She was pretty ticked off with him after that. It took all of us to calm her down to where we could reason with her. She was so worried that something had happened to you that she was willing to drop everything to go and find you.” 

He paused to recollect his thoughts, and give Matt a chance to process what he was saying. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that this has been really hard on Pidge too. She’s been worrying about you since you first went into space. I think that she thought when she found you, it would make it all better. But she found you in the middle of fighting a war instead- lots of opportunities to die. She tries to hide it, but I’ve seen how anxious she gets when she thinks we’ve got out backs turned. My point is, Pidge is in the same boat. It might not be a bad idea to bring it up with her.”

Matt nodded silently, but made no other effort to continue the conversation. So Hunk decided to drop it, and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before his snores mingled with those of Lance and Keith. 

It took Matt a little longer to silence the unwelcome thoughts in his head. But eventually he too managed to drift off to sleep. 

••• 

The intercom on the ship suddenly sounded loudly, and Matt jumped. Not quite high enough that he dropped Pidge, but high enough that he woke her up. 

_“Everyone to the infirmary. I have good news.”_

Allura had left for the long-awaited meeting down on Spartaculor earlier that day. And if she had returned with good news, then surely it had to be about Pidge. It looked like his sister didn’t know what was going on though, and he was torn between staying with her and leaving to see what Allura had found out. The others had left to do various little jobs around the Castle, making food, washing blankets and the like, leaving him with Pidge for a while. “Hey Pidge, I need to go for a minute, okay? I’ll be back soon though.”

She looked distraught at the prospect of being left alone, but he stood by his convictions. 

“Just close your eyes and rest, you won’t even notice I’m gone,” Matt promised, handing her a pillow to hug before turning around and walking out. He didn’t have to look back to know that she had her arms around the pillow and her eyes were starting to droop again. She had just barely woken up, after all. 

Matt took his chance to hurry away quietly so as to avoid rousing her again. After walking about three halls, he stopped and groaned. He had no clue where the infirmary was at. It was possible that he could make it back to the main control room, as that was where he spent most of his time when he was in the Castle. But he’d always had Pidge guiding him to places that he didn’t know well. Now he didn’t. And naturally he no way of contacting someone to ask for help. That would just be too easy. _‘Might as well just keep walking. No chance of finding it at all if I just stand here.’_

Taking a deep breath, Matt continued walking, trying to think of what the best spot for an infirmary would be. Everything in the Castle was organized so that each room was positioned best for its use. Infirmaries were for treating sick or injured people. So it would make sense, Matt realized, that it would be positioned close to the Lion’s hangars. Most injuries happened on the job, after all, and the faster they could get a wounded Paladin healed, the better. And he knew where those were- he’d landed in them plenty of times when he visited the Castle. It was something. 

He was very pleased as he made his way to the Lions and found Keith walking in the same direction. “Keith! I need some help. I don’t know where the infirmary is at. Is it okay if I follow you?”

“Sure. I wasn’t expecting you to come. Thought you’d stay with Pidge.” Keith slowed down to let Matt catch up to him. He looked over when Matt was beside him with the question on his face.

“She’s asleep right now. It’s not like she’s going somewhere. Besides, I’ll bet we’ll be done talking by the time she wakes up.” They fell into silence after that, likely because they were only a door down from where they were trying to go. 

Keith was the first one in, closely tailed by Matt to find that the others had arrived before them. 

“I managed to find out what it is, and obtained a cure for it. They said it would take a day or so to start working, but once it does, she’ll be just fine.” Allura looked exhausted, but had a smile on her face all the same. She’d been working almost nonstop, trying to find anything on what might’ve caused this when she was waiting on her meetings with the leaders of the kingdoms. 

“Well, what is it?” Hunk asked. 

“It’s a common virus in the fifth kingdom that’s been making its way around. Apparently cases have been reported in the third and seventh kingdoms as well, and it sounds like it’s been affecting people there more severely, like how it’s been with Pidge. I can only imagine it’s because they’ve had less exposure to it than residents of the fifth kingdom,” Allura said. “The cure I was given is just an ointment, to be applied to her forehead every three vargas.”

“Just like that? That’s a lot easier than I would’ve guessed.”

“Let’s go then,” Matt said impatiently. He had watched this virus kick Pidge’s butt for long enough, and he knew for a fact that the others were in the same boat. They were all eager to see an end to this ordeal. “No sense it making her wait any longer.”

The unspoken sentiment was felt by everyone- no sense in putting themselves through this any longer either. 

•••

It seemed to take forever for her to start coming around. It had actually been about nine days since she’d first started showing symptoms, but when she was throwing up everything she put inside her and had an average temperature of one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit, it was an unbearably long time. 

Matt had stayed rooted by her side for nearly the entire five days that he was there, only getting up to use the bathroom. Shiro was there for him, bringing him food and drinks in an attempt to get him to take a bit of care for himself. The Holts could be a frustrating bunch when it came to that. Of course, the others weren’t much better. None of them wanted to leave her either. Again, this was the first time any of them had been sick in space, and they hadn’t had anyway of treating it- it had them all restless. 

After about the fourth application of the odd-smelling ointment that had Allura had been given, Pidge was able to sit up and carry out a conversation. She was still pale, and her appetite wasn’t back, but she was eating a bit more without throwing up and her fever was down. By the sixth day that Matt had been there, apart from a few sniffles here and there and a lack of energy, she was just about good as new. And she was improving steadily, which was really all they could ask for. 

“You know Pidge, if you’d wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked. Next time don’t try so hard,” Lance teased. He was actually only half joking, but he was enjoying the lighter mood that had taken hold since she’d started getting better. 

Pidge blushed and rubbed her forehead. “Can we just... maybe forget about all of that?”

“Aww, it was cute! I’m gonna miss cuddly Pidge,” Hunk said with a sincere grin. “You were so sweet, most of the time!”

“Most?” she asked. 

“You managed to wallop all of us a couple of times. Shiro the most. But I think that was just because he was the one who would actually try and snap you out of it. The rest of us didn’t really have any idea what to do.”

“You really freaked us out.” Matt was sitting beside her. No one commented on the fact that she was still leaning against him wearily.

“Sorry guys. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. I got some absolutely _adorable_ pictures from the last few days,” Lance said with a worrisomely wicked grin. “Our little loner, all snuggled up with everyone. Proof that you’ve got a soft side, Pidgy.”

“Crap,” Pidge groaned. “Lance, how many pictures of me being all... clingy do you have?”

“Oh, just a few. Keith also took a video of you kicking me while I was trying to calm you down. I was gonna hold onto that and see if I could use it to guilt you into doing something for me at some point.”

“You know I don’t get guilty,” Pidge retorted. 

Lance was already pulling up the video as she spoke and holding it up for her to watch. “Are you sure?”

She winced when she saw her foot drive into Lance’s groin, then looked up at him. “Okay, maybe I’ll feel a little bad about it. But not bad enough to do you any _huge_ favors.”

“Even after I took care of you? Slaved away, making sure you had clean clothes and fresh blankets and plenty of stuff to drink? I’d say you owe me.” Lance’s smile told her that he was only joking. 

He was partially right though, and she had to acknowledge that. “I suppose I do. I owe all of you. Thanks for taking care of me.”

“Pidge, you don’t owe us anything. Family takes care of each other, right?” Shiro said what everyone was thinking. Even Lance nodded along with him. Looking at each of their faces, it washed over her just how much these guys all loved her. They’d let everything come to a grinding halt, just to care for her. 

Pidge smiled and tipped her head back to rest on Matt’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Hey, does anyone else think it’s kinda weird that none of us have gotten sick?” Hunk asked. “I mean, we were all around her pretty much constantly. It seems like at least one of us should’ve caught it.”

There was a moment of silence while the others thought about that for a moment. Hunk had a good point. They’d all been in the same room with her for the past week and a half, breathing the same air, letting her cuddle up to them- hell, Lance had been puked on. And they’d all been so wrapped up in taking care of Pidge that their personal hygiene had taken a bit of a hit. 

It didn’t make much sense. 

Then Shiro coughed, and everyone around him took step back and stared with wide eyes. 

At least this time they had a cure.

**Author's Note:**

> And this has been a lesson on what could happen if you don't get vaccinated! It's pretty obvious that I got super lazy there at the end, but it was getting really long and I wanted to wrap it up. Anyhoo, as always, feel free to shoot me a message @ https://the-sinnamon-roll-writes.tumblr.com/ !


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